


The Prince and the Dove

by Hinalilly



Series: Hina's Cheesy Rinharu Week Oneshots [6]
Category: Free!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fairy Tale, Fluff, M/M, Rinharu Week, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, flight, lift your head and look, the sky that I want to find
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-25
Updated: 2014-11-25
Packaged: 2018-02-27 00:19:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,756
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2671871
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hinalilly/pseuds/Hinalilly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Once upon a time, a Prince fell in love with a fisherman.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Prince and the Dove

**Author's Note:**

> The 6th installment of Hina's "I'm gonna use all these prompts, just you wait" Rinharu Week adventure!
> 
> This idea hit me like lightning, and I thought, hey, let's give it a shot! Instead of writing a _Free!_ story loosely based on a fairy tale, how about I write a fairy tale loosely based on _Free!_ ? That's exactly what this oneshot is. It's cheesy, it's corny as hell, and I hope you like it!
> 
> (I might have typo-ed Prince as “PRince” waaaaay too many times while writing this.
> 
> Maybe.
> 
> You’ll never know.)

Once upon a time, there lived a Prince who was in love with love. He spent his days frolicking around the castle grounds, his head high up in the clouds, daydreaming of his true love and how he would go about finding them at last. Each day he would come up with a new face, and a new meeting, and a new happily ever after, spacing out during his lessons and spending more time in his dreamland than in the real world. The King and Queen were worried, for the Prince was the first in line to succeed the throne, and it was imperative he started concentrating in learning how to rule his good and prosperous country instead of busying himself with illusions that never had a set shape nor origin.

The boy, whoever, seemed oblivious to his parents' worries, choosing to spend his time instead figuring out different ways to sneak out of the castle, in order to mingle with the townsfolk in disguise. The Prince was certain he would not find his love within the closed walls of the castle; the restrictions imposed on him stifled him, and he was already familiar with all the members of the court, none of which had managed to move his heart.

The Prince took to heading into town regularly, meeting new people and wondering when that fateful encounter would occur, sighing dreamily right before he fell asleep and first thing after waking up. He smiled and laughed and learned many things, always keeping his identity a secret, always looking for new corners of the town to explore.

One day, while rushing out through narrow side streets, in order to avoid the vigilant gaze of the royal guards, the Prince found his way into the port. His heart immediately soared at the sight of the sea, coming to and fro with the breeze, the salty air and the broad sky above making his heart race with excitement. But it wasn't until he got asked to move out of the way that the Prince knew what it really felt like to be struck with instant infatuation, until he gazed into a pair of eyes clear as water, hair dark as ebony, and sun-kissed skin. The Prince needed no confirmation to realize that he'd finally been hit with love at first sight and, in spite of the stench of fish, he begun sneaking out every day to make his way to the port, to pay the young fisherman a daily visit.

It was slightly unlike what he had imagined, since the boy was too stubborn to return his affections as quickly as the Prince had envisioned he would. But he persisted, never revealing his true identity as he continued coming back day after day, learning both about the fisherman himself and about his trade, watching and helping out and doing everything he could to grow closer to him. Everything about him was absolutely entrancing, from his eyes to his voice to the way in which he moved. It was a treat to the soul to watch him in the water, and the Prince loved to join in, set on winning the boy’s affection by besting him and showing his enthusiasm and effort. The fisherman, although initially reluctant to keep him company, grew to enjoy spending time with him as well little by little, curious about his mysterious background, and wanting to learn more.

They spent their days leisurely, sharing experiences and secretly wanting to be part of each other’s foreign world, and The Prince was so taken with the young fisherman that it didn’t take long for his feelings to become evident to the rest of the members of the court.

The King and Queen were not oblivious to the Prince's escapades for long, their concern growing with each passing day. They were frightened that the Prince's obsession with love had led him to misplace his feelings, deluding himself by mistaking them for something truer than it actually was. They ordered that the Prince had to be grounded immediately, and locked him up within the confines of the castle, making sure that he would never have the chance to run off on his own again. However, this did nothing to contain the Prince’s feelings, who seemed to be just as, if not even more in love with the other boy with each day spent apart from him. The isolation only served to make the Prince talk more and more about how wonderful this boy was, to the point that it was practically the only topic that left his lips. In their concern, his parents decided to seek the aid of a powerful Wizard, who assured them he could devise an infallible way to prove whether the Prince’s affections were real or not and, should they turn out not be, the plan ensured that the Prince would be freed from those thoughts as well, all in one fell swoop.

The Wizard, disguising himself as a commoner, approached the young fisherman the very next day, asking him about the boy who used to visit him every day. The fisherman seemed crestfallen at the question and immediately went quiet, suddenly reminded of the long absence of the boy who he’d silently come to love. He still remembered how he’d felt the slight difference between them, and how he’d feared that the boy might leave him behind and forget all about him one day. The Wizard then went on to tell the fisherman that the boy was waiting for him and, taking advantage of the slight moment of hesitation that followed, took his chance to cast a spell on him, turning him into a pure white dove, and placed him inside a small, golden cage. He then gathered more doves and more cages, mixing the golden one among them, and sent all two thousand of them to the castle, announcing them as a present for the Prince. The Prince was undoubtedly confused by the gift, but with nothing better to do within the walls of the castle, he accepted it with gratitude.

The cages were placed in a tall tower, and the Prince visited it personally every day, feeding the doves and giving them names, petting them and talking to them. He played with a different bird each day, telling it all about the wonderful boy that was waiting for him at the port, and asking it to deliver a small, handwritten message to him. Each night, the designated bird would return, the message nowhere to be seen, and even in his confinement, the Prince smiled a little.

Meanwhile, the young fisherman could not understand what had happened to him, finding himself held captive inside a cage and in a body that wasn’t his own, unable to escape. The only though in his mind was that there was someone waiting for him, and that he couldn’t stay in that cage forever. The days went by, and as he remained in the cage, staring longingly at the bright blue sky through the windows, the spell bound him tighter and tighter, making him slowly lose his memories about being a human.

 

Years passed, one dove and one message taking flight each day, and finally the time came when the Prince approached the golden cage. He was immediately pained with worry over the state of the dove inside it, which, unlike the other birds, looked sickly and sullen, huddled up sadly into a corner of its cage. He did his best to feed it, trying to cheer it up, but he soon realized that the poor thing could not bear staying caged up any longer, as he could recognize the longing in its eyes for the sky and the outside world. Therefore, instead of asking it to deliver his daily message like he did with all the others, the Prince opened the cage and placed it near the open window, leaving the dove to fly out if it so wished. The dove began to move with a little difficulty, and by the time the Prince returned to check the cage that same night, although relieved that the bird had been able to escape the castle, he found with a strange, unbearable sadness that it had remained empty.

The dove’s escape, however, had not been as smooth as the Prince had imagined it. For whatever reason unknown to it, the dove just couldn’t seem to stay on air, having to resort to climbing down the tower instead, leaping from one ledge to another, clutching onto the hard stone with its claws. Its wings felt foreign and strangely stiff, and try as it might it just couldn’t take off the ground. It resigned itself to waddling with effort, swaying awkwardly from side to side as it moved, trying to put as much distance between itself and the castle, and the cage, as possible. It knew there was somewhere it needed to go, but it didn’t know where or how to get there, and it started to fall into desperation.

The dove eventually made its way into the woods, confused and disoriented and not entirely sure of which path it should take next. The night grew closer, and the dove was hungry and cold when it came across a kind woodcutter’s house. The woodcutter, assuming the dove to be injured, offered it food and shelter, allowing it to stay as long as it needed for its wings to heal. The dove, however, was eager to be on its way, knowing that someone was waiting for it, and did its best to wordlessly ask the woodcutter to teach it how to fly. The man couldn’t comply with the request, as he himself didn’t know how to, but instead taught the dove how to walk, how to put one foot in front of the other, keeping its balance, always steady. He then told the dove of a sage who lived further into the woods, who might be able to share the knowledge of flight with it in his place. With enough supplies to make the journey safely, the dove left the woodcutter’s house, offering its gratitude as best as it could, and went on its way.

The dove felt comfortable walking, its pace slow and tranquil, and its journey turned slightly more bearable.

Deeper into the forest, and still unsure of its path, the dove crossed paths with a mischievous fairy who, amused by the idea of a bird who walked on two legs instead of flying, kept trying to ask the bird if there wasn’t perhaps something else it would rather be. He wondered aloud about all the different shapes that the dove could have probably taken, but the dove was unable to give any answers, as it didn’t know how to articulate words. Upon noticing this, the fairy decided to teach the dove how to speak, how to whisper and how to yell, how to be truthful and how to deceive, arguing that this would make it much easier for it to explain its plight to the sage, to express itself when it was necessary. The dove felt a strange relief at being able to show its gratitude appropriately this time, and again went on its way.

While speaking as much as the fairy did seemed a little awkward to it, words felt natural on the dove’s lips, and the thought of being able to properly voice its feelings should it wish to do so brought a great calm to its heart.

With each passing day and each new step, the dove slowly began regaining its human qualities, and by the time it made it to the sage’s hut, the spell was practically broken. The sage, after noticing the magic lingering around it and listening to it tale, told it there was nothing he needed to do for it, as what it sought was already lying in its heart. The short words of guidance helped the dove regain its memories, and it finally managed to recall the Wizard’s words, and the boy who, it hoped, was still waiting for it. After thanking the sage for his help, the dove made its way back through the forest, hurrying back to town as fast as its legs could carry it, and shedding white feathers one by one as it ran, hoping to finally be able to meet its beloved after so many years.

By the time he made it to the town, the plumage had fallen off, and the fisherman was already back in his own body, nothing but a couple feathers still sticking to his clothes and his hair.

However, no matter how fast he ran and how much he wanted to say, the fisherman found that there was nobody waiting for him at the port once he arrived, the waters cold and the breeze weak, his old house empty and abandoned, covered in dust and mold. It was as if nothing he remembered of that place had been real, but the fisherman trusted his memories and the feelings in his heart, and it was then that he heard, coming from the sky above him, the cry of a bird.

The fisherman climbed to the roof of his house to find a white dove on it, nestled on top of what seemed like thousands of small paper scrolls. He picked the bird up, cradling it in his hands gently, and noticed the small scroll tied to its leg. Carefully, he took the scroll and opened it, and inside there was but one line of handwritten text.

_“I hope you and I will one day be looking at the same blue sky again.”_

The fisherman looked up, staring at the sky and remembering how he’d felt being locked in that cage, remembering how much he’d longed to reach it, and the young man in lavish clothes who had set him free—at last, with no sorrows to cloud his view, he finally recognized him, the boy he loved. The fisherman turned to the dove in his hands, and begged it to lead him back to the tower, back to the one who’d written that message. The dove took off from his hands and flew, and the fisherman followed it, running as if his life depended on it.

He ran like never before, feeling the wind carry him, the dove showing him the way to the castle, which came into view painfully slowly, the tall tower looking both imposing and unreachable against the blinding sun. The fisherman watched as the bird rose in the air, all the way up to a small window, and he waited with eyes wide, breathing heavily, standing at the bottom of the tower as the Prince, his beloved, reached outside to welcome the dove back in, a bright smile on his face when he saw the paper scroll was missing today as well. The fisherman called out to him, and the Prince noticed him, squinting his eyes from high above, his smile widening when he, too, recognized the fisherman, joyous that his messages had been answered at last. But the Prince couldn’t climb down, and the fisherman couldn’t fly up—they were so close again, yet so far, and their hearts ached in unison, longing for each other.

It was then that, moved by the love in both of their hearts, the doves in the tower suddenly burst in flight from their cages, surrounding the Prince in a cloud of white feathers, and carried him out of the tower on their wings, down towards the ground, and into the fisherman’s arms.

The Prince and the fisherman embraced at long last, the two of them finally free to be together, their feelings proven by their longing and effort to be with one another, by their winding paths that had led them to each other's side once again. The spell was broken at last, and the King and Queen apologized to both young men, acknowledging their feelings, and expressing their remorse for their doubt and mistrust by allowing them to do as they wished, to recover the years they had lost and build their future together if they so desired. The Prince and the fisherman decided to set off on a journey together, broadening their horizons and seeing the wonders of the world, and they were led by all one thousand, nine hundred, and ninety nine doves, following the clear, ever blue sky above them, wherever it may take them.

 

The world was theirs. And they lived happily ever after.


End file.
